


Weightless

by corinnemaree, lannisterslioness



Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Space, F/M, the martian au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2016-09-08
Packaged: 2018-05-01 20:59:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5220587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corinnemaree/pseuds/corinnemaree, https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannisterslioness/pseuds/lannisterslioness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Ares 3 mission to Mars was supposed to be well and good. Until a dust storm rolls in and a member of the Ares 3 crew is lost: Owen Grady. Everyone thinks he's dead, it's just a miracle he survived. Now, they have to bring him home. Commander Claire Dearing is feeling guilt for many reasons, now, she gets to save the man she's fallen in love with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so this idea came from our mutual obsession with The Martian and we just decided to collaborate our evil minds for this painful fic. Have fun, and we'll try and make it good for everyone. xx

Owen didn’t want to wake up that day. The days on Mars were longer than regular earth hours, which meant he got to sleep in, but it never felt like it was enough. Claire would eventually be at his part of the hab, so he would be nagged out of his bed soon enough. He groaned as he swung his legs over the side of the bed.

They had a team of six along for their mission to Mars. They were known as the Ares 3 crew with a range of different people who helped with the mission and certain findings. Owen was the team’s botanist and engineer, but the latter was a common skill most astronauts had, so he was one of the lower ranking team members. He didn’t mind though, he was just happy he got to go to Mars. Who can say they got to go to Mars? Well, the Ares 1 and 2 missions, and everyone in his team, but still, it was pretty cool.

Commander Dearing, the youngest of the two sisters aboard Ares 3, was a strong-willed and fierce leader who never let anyone tread on her toes. Besides these obvious leaderships traits, she had horrendous taste in music, which she liked to play just as she woke up. Her sister, Karen Mitchell, their communication expert on Ares 3, didn’t mind the music. The Dearing household was very close and shared the same horrible music taste.

Owen scratched the back of his head, his eyes barely opening as he wandered into the kitchen. His feet were just leaving the ground, if not at all; God, he was tired. When he got to the kitchen, Claire stood up the coffee maker as she jumped up and down slightly to the sound of ‘I Want You Back’. Owen cracked a smile as Claire had yet to see him. The last few months of travelling together, it made them rather close, and the accompanied feelings of this closeness were frustrating at the best of times.

Owen cleared his throat, and Claire jumped. She looked over her shoulder and smiled brightly at him before she turned her attention back to the coffee brewing inside the machine. “Nice song option this morning, Commander.” Owen smirked and Claire shook her head. He moved behind her, grabbing a mug from the top cupboard, which startled Claire. They were standing close and Owen was surprised that he was even standing there.

Claire turned to face Owen. Claire’s cheeks were bright red, and Owen felt his chest beating faster. Oh, god, he was screwed. “Coffee?” she asked, but before Owen could even reply, they heard Karen wake up. It was obvious before she yelled “Yes please!” from inside the sleeping quarters. He gave a nod before backing away from her as Karen entered the room. She stopped once she saw Owen.

“Oh, didn’t realise the botanist was in here with you.” Karen gave a vague raise of her eyebrows before she smirked. Karen had always been one to make fun of Owen, but that didn’t mean he bit back. They always had fun around each other, and Owen quite liked having someone to joke around with. He was known as one of the light-heartier members of their mission. Karen would be second to him.

“You know, Mitchell, I do have a name.” Owen leaned against the silver metal benchtop.

“And I have children, Grady, stop flirting with me,” Karen put a hand to her chest, her lashes noticeably fluttered before she broke into a chesty laugh. She patted his shoulder as she stood close to him. “Oh, c’mon, plant boy, just having fun.” Karen’s hip knocked against Owen’s and he shook his head, watching Karen grab another mug and place it beside the others on the benchtop.

“Sometimes, it amazes me that you and Dearing are sisters.” he remarked before the coffee stopped brewing. Claire and Karen watched intently as the coffee started to near the mugs.

“Coffee!” they both chanted as Claire poured three mugs of coffee. Owen rolled his eyes before he broke into a smile. Claire slid over the mug and Owen took it in his hands.

“No, I get it now.” Owen blow on the coffee before sipping it and laughing with the girls. The other members of their team started to wake up and gather their own breakfast before they were meant to do some work on the surface or inside; Dean Parker, the Ares 3 doctor, Mark Brant, the chemist onboard along with Adam Ferraro, their guidance and flight coordinator, he flew everything.

They had their jobs all mapped out for them, Owen was meant to be organising soil samples, Claire was making sure the solar panels were aligned right, Karen and Dean were inside, doing their respective duties, Brant was using some collecting earlier soil samples for some experiments, and Ferraro was doing computer runs over on the MAV.

“Commander, we have a storm warning.” Karen said over comms. It was a surprise as they had been talking about why Owen was allowed to speak over the comms so freely when Karen interrupted. Everyone looked over at Commander Dearing, watching her for any sign of orders.

“Yeah, I saw it in this mornings briefings.” Claire stopped for a moment before she continued to do checks on the panels.

“Yeah, they upgraded their estimate. It’s going to be a lot worse.” Karen said, and everyone stopped. Claire rose her hand above her head, whirling around her fingers and everyone started to pack up. They were getting ready to evacuate, which wasn’t good, considering they had only been there for eighteen days.

“Ferraro, how does it look?” Claire asked, and Owen looked over to the MAV. Ferraro had a better view of the storm, but it looked brutal from where Owen was standing.

“Not good, Commander.” Ferraro was being nice about the storm. This was going to fuck with them. Hard.

They stood around the monitor, arguing over what to do, the velocity of the storm and how bad it would be if they stayed. “We can either wait it out, or go.” Parker suggested, his arms folded in front of his chest and he looked over at Claire.

“But the MAV is more than likely going to tip.” Ferraro said over the comm. Claire contemplated for a moment. She scanned the room, her hand at the corner of her mouth with her teeth chewing at her lip roughly and her brow narrowed harshly.

“The force of the storm is going to be insane.” Karen said over her shoulder to Claire. Brant rarely said a word, but he gave a tough nod to Claire when she glanced over at him.

“We have to abort the mission.” Claire said, a long sigh escaping her as she looked down at her feet. She had worked so hard on this mission, Claire never wanted to fail it.

“Commander, we can wait it out.” Owen suggested, and her

“Grady, the MAV is our only way home. We abort. That’s an order.” Claire stared at him for a moment longer than she should have but soon went to change like everyone else. Owen was still in his EVA suit, so he just waited, his helmet resting in his hands. He would be the last member exiting the airlock, as he was the lowest ranked. When everyone was ready, they lined up and entered the airlock.

The airlock door opened, bursting through with the gusts of wind. It knocked everyone back, and they had to soon wade through the scattered rocks and dust. It was hard to see anything, they could barely see the MAV, their only indicator was the lights at the base of the ship.

There was a small amount of chatter over the comm, but Owen’s was acting up, he couldn’t hear a thing. “What?” he asked before her saw Karen turn towards him, the lights inside her helmet showing her horror and fear. Owen was confused, and then a delayed voice rang through his helmet.

“Watch out!” Karen yelled, but it was no use, Owen got hit square in the chest and he went flying. Something pierced his side and he bellowed out. An obnoxious noise started to wail, telling him that his suit was penetrated, but Owen couldn’t feel a thing. The only thing he could hear was the scream from the other members of his crew.

“Grady!” Claire’s voice was desperate.

“Can anyone find Grady?!” Parker called after Claire.

“Where the hell is Owen!” Claire said again, her voice broke.

“Commander?” Brant’s voice was next.

“Get to the ship! I have to find Owen.” Claire said after them, some chatter came next about getting to the MAV.

It was all just blaring noise to him. He knew people were there looking for him, but he went deep into shock. When he hit the ground, his eyes shut and he doubted that he would wake up.

_***~*~*** _

Owen eyes didn’t want to open, but a blare noise that was consistently hitting the drums of his ears forced him to. Low oxygen. That’s what the sound was. Owen gasped as he woke, turning the sound off and looking down at his suit. A thin, but long, antenna was stuck in his side and as he moved, it pulled and he groaned. It was causing him far too much pain, but he would die if he kept it that way for much longer.

Owen stood up, looking around for a moment. The MAV was gone. His crew had gone. He didn’t blame them. His suit probably showed that his vitals were gone from the break in his EVA. The crew would have noticed and would have gone after searching for a while. How long did they search? Ah, he couldn’t dwell on that. He had a fucking antenna sticking out of his side. That was the important thing to notice here.

He took a step before the antenna pulled on his side painfully. He screamed out, collapsing to his knees. The antenna was still attached to the heavy communication dish that slammed into him. He frantically searched himself for pliers or something, when he finally found the scissors hidden in his suit. The metal wire snapped and Owen stood once more.

Walking was painfully slow, in more ways than one. It felt like every step was spent poorly and he just wanted to get out of his damn suit. He finally reached the airlock, waited the time it took to pressurise and opened the door to the hab. Once inside, he took his helmet off before he looked down at the antenna. It stared at him with painful inflictions and he just had to breathe it out. It took in multiple breaths and tore it from his side. He bellowed out in pain before taking off the top half of his EVA suit.

Owen had to get his shirt off, scissors would do. He snipped himself out of his shirt before grabbing together medical supplies from the bay. There was only the sound of metal against metal battering around as Owen sat down in a medical chair. He reclined and pulled a mirror to his side. He aimed it at the bleeding wound. He covered the wound, just to collect as much blood as he could.

He shot himself with anesthetic around the wound, painful with every punch of the anesthetic pen. He knew that there was metal still inside and he couldn’t leave it floating around inside his stomach. He took a deep breath before he dove a pair of medical pliers into his side. It took some painful searching before he found it and rested the pliers down with shaky hands. He took the stapler, pinched his skin together and spanning the wound closed. He didn’t feel them go on, but he knew he would when he woke up the next morning. He threw the stapler across the hab and laid there panting. He was alive. Barely.

“Fuck,” he said to himself, the wind of mars hitting the hab hard. He was in pain, he had to perform a medical procedure on himself and he was realising he was stuck on Mars. _Fuck_. Owen pulled a blanket from his bed, to keep him from going into shock and shuffled into the sleeping quarters. He found the desk with the computer and video camera functions, sitting down and typing in his log in details.

Owen hunched over as he turned the video recorder on. He wrapped the blanket around himself as tightly as he could and sighed. His voice was harsh and low. God, he was tired.

_LOG 1. SOL 19:_

_“I’m fucked. That’s the nicest way I can put it. I know no-one will see these damn videos, but I need someone to talk to or I’ll go insane. Let’s start from where it went to shit. The storm. It hit us hard, so evacuating was a smart call by Commander Dearing. Oh, I want to make one thing clear, this was no-one’s fault. It was an accident and it was better to save your own lives than to risk it all for one person._

_When the communication dish hit me, one of the antennas broke off into my EVA suit. The antenna actually saved my life. The hole it made in me and my EVA was small, and when my blood hit the air from Mars, it sealed the breach in my suit. Taking the damn thing out was a bitch, but hey, at least I’m alive._

_But there are things that are still going to kill me. I have no communication with NASA, and it will be four years before a manned mission can reach me, and I have supplies to last me thirty-one days. If the oxygenator breaks, I’ll suffocate. If the water reclaimer breaks, I’ll die of thirst. If the hab breaches, I’m just gonna kinda...implode. And, by some fucking miracle, none of that happens, eventually I’m going to run out of food and starve to death._

_So yeah, I’m fucked.”_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So here’s chapter two! I’m really loving working on this story with Cor, it’s so much fun, we’re working our butts off on this fic!

    Before they had even made it to Mars, the Hermes had been full of laughter and excitement. Parker had been a bit of a mother hen on the mission out, making sure everyone kept themselves healthy and active though there wasn’t much choice for being anything but. Ferraro, Karen, and Owen had all seemed to form an alliance, picking at each other and everyone else to get a good laugh. Claire and Brant on the other hand tried to stay out of it all, trying to hide their grins and laughs whenever they didn’t want to admit that something funny had actually happened. They’d become a family on the mission out, hell, they had started to take a liking to each other before they’d even left Earth; but now the Hermes was far too quiet.

    Since leaving the MAV and boarding the Hermes, everyone in the crew had been incredibly silent, no one quite knowing what to say or do. In their training they had practiced for dozens of worst case scenarios, it had been gone over a hundred times what to do in the case of losing a fellow crewmate, but they never expected that they actually would - especially Owen Grady. Claire hadn’t realized just how much he’d connected with everyone, herself included, until he was gone; in a sense, Owen had become the heart of the crew and his loss echoed through every corner of the ship. But Claire continued on, knowing that she had to put on her brave face to keep the crew going, they still had to get home and now more than anything else, the crew needed Commander Dearing. She could let herself break and be just Claire Dearing again once they reached Earth all in one piece and safe.

    Brant was the first one to approach her a few days into their return flight, everyone else had kept to themselves and their jobs, even Karen kept to herself which was a rare sight to Claire. But Brant seemed to be staying strong, just as Claire was trying to be, and while she was tending to one of her experiments, he came up to her and clapped her on the shoulder.

    “You were brave to try and find him, Commander.” His voice was somber but still strong, Brant was perhaps the strongest among them. “Any one of us would have done the same.”

    Claire just nodded, she didn’t what to say in return except for the “Thank you.” she managed to whisper out.

    Brant gave her a brief nod before returning to his experiments in the lab, and for a moment Claire felt frozen just sitting there in front of her geology experiments she was running and the attempt at botany she was making in Owen’s place. For a minute, everything felt like it was too much, mentioning what happened out loud made it all too real again and Claire needed to put some distance between her and the reminders of Owen. She figured the rec room right about now was probably the best place to think in some sort of peace.

* * *

 

    Claire and Owen were not together, not even by a longshot, though that never stopped Claire’s heart from occasionally skipping a beat or her cheeks flushing a bright red whenever Owen paid her some attention. It had started during their training, Claire found it hard to get along with Owen back then, he was always making a joke of everything and for a while she wondered if he took anything seriously. But then he made her laugh, genuinely laugh, and he learned that she liked a few jokes, but she didn’t like joking around all the time - she was his Commander after all. After that, it all sort of slowly built up over time, she couldn’t pinpoint when she first felt her heart flutter in her chest around him, or when she started thinking ‘Maybe Grady isn’t all that bad after all’, all she knew was that somewhere along their training and their mission, she started to care deeply about Owen. Now, in the blink of an eye, all of that was gone and Claire would have traded anything to have him back.

    “Are you okay?” Karen had managed to slip into the rec room without Claire noticing and taking a seat beside her.

    “I’m fine.” Claire lied and tried to dismiss it with a shrug. She was holding on to everything she had to keep herself from going down that road of guilt she knew was bubbling just underneath the surface. “You okay?”

    “I’m okay. I had my cry already.” Karen gave a small smile in attempts to let Claire know she was fine. Now that Claire was looking at her she could see her red-rimmed eyes and hear the stuffiness in her nose. “It’s just...so quiet in here with Owen go-... not around.” Karen caught herself, not wanting to mention that Owen was dead, though it was something everyone already accepted.

    “He certainly kept things lively in here.” Claire bit her lip and turned away, deciding to focus on looking out the window, though still being able to see Mars in their view wasn’t helping any.

    “You know Claire, you don’t have to pretend you’re alright. Owen missing is weighing down on everyone, it’s not good to keep all that bottled up anyway.” Karen persisted, she knew Claire like the back of her hand and could tell she wasn’t feeling like herself. Who could after all they had been through?

    “I’m alright, I have to be.” When Claire’s voice broke at the end, she had to clear her throat and push all those feelings aside again. “I’m the Commander, I have to keep everyone together. When we get home safe and sound...I’ll let it out then.”

    Karen started rubbing Claire’s back, a calming habit she had picked up from their mother when they were kids, to this day it still managed to calm her down.

    “Alright, just promise me that if you want to talk and let it out before then that you’ll come and find me. You may be the Commander, but I’m still your big sister.” Karen smirked.

    “I promise.” Claire whispered.

    She couldn’t help but keep her eyes locked on the red planet that had stolen Owen away from them, and she couldn’t help but feel the guilt gnaw at her, telling her she should have searched for Owen more. Maybe she should have even let the team go and stay behind on Mars, if it could have saved Owen, she would have.

* * *

 

    Claire was back on Mars...why was she on Mars? She should have been home and curled up by a nice fire, hugging her nephews and spending time with her sister. But she was here, for one reason or another, and completely alone as far as she could tell. It was after the storm, bits and pieces of the Hab were everywhere, though she could see the Hab standing strong in the distance. She was still in her EVA suit, and she couldn’t spot another ship for miles around, not even the MAV was still here, was she stranded on Mars instead?

    Claire searched around for a bit, she was considering heading back to the Hab and seeing what had happened and why she was the only one here, until her suit started giving her the reading of someone else. It was faint, their heart was barely beating, and her screen had a crack that ran right through the name of whoever’s signal she was picking up. They were dying, that was without a doubt, and deep down Claire had a feeling of who it was. She went as quickly as she could move in the bulky EVA suit, it was faster than walking but nowhere near as quick as running. She followed the signal until she reached the source, there was nothing there but half buried metal pieces from the Hab, though the signal claimed someone was here and dying. Frantically, Claire started digging around wherever she could, trying and hoping to find any signs of life.

    When she came across the dome of their helmets, she knew this was where the signal was coming from, she kept digging and digging, faster than she had ever thought possible, until she had Owen’s entire upper torso dug out.

    “Owen! Wake up, please wake up!” She shouted, and as she did, she saw the vitals stop on her screen. “Owen!” She shouted again.

    Getting no response, Claire decided to dig him out some more before pulling him out of the ground seemed to be the best option. She noticed the significant crack in his helmet and the holes in his suit, places where he was pierced by multiple flying pieces of metal. It was a wonder he didn’t die sooner.

    “Owen, no, no, no.” Claire pleaded as she started letting herself sob. She found him, and it was too late, Owen was dead. “Come back, please come back!”

    Owen’s eyes snapped open wide, they were filled with fear as his hand reached out and grabbed Claire’s arm tightly. “Claire...you should have looked for me.” He managed to whisper out.

* * *

 

    Claire bolted upright in bed, keeping herself from letting out a scream though she was covered in a thin layer of sweat. It was another nightmare about Owen, she’d been having them ever since they left Mars and she hadn’t gotten a good night of sleep since then. She pulled the blankets up close to her chest and lied down again, hoping she’d be able to drift off back to sleep without anymore nightmares. After lying there, staring at the ceiling of the Hermes for a half hour, Claire caved and took one of the sleeping pills Parker had given to her earlier in the day, apparently she wasn’t the only one who knew how little sleep she was getting.

**  
**  While she waited for the pill to kick in and left her drift off, Claire couldn’t help but wish she had something of Owen’s to hold onto. But him along with everything they had brought to Mars was left behind in the Hab, waiting there for some other mission to find and dig through. She let Owen down, she let everyone down by failing to find him in that storm, she knew it was right to get the crew out of harm’s way, but she should have kept looking. She might have gotten stuck on Mars then, and even if she had found him, there was no guarantee saying he would have lived if she had stayed behind to find him. Claire could have been left behind with Owen’s dead body and trying to find a way to survive on a planet where nothing survived. It was her last thought as she drifted off to sleep, what if she had stayed behind? Would things have been different? Would Owen still be alive?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cor here! Ready for an update. Finally? My fault, I hadn’t edited or started my next chapter. New chapters coming soon, promise. xx

_“So, the most present problem I have is that I have limited food. Unless I find a way to grow food, because they don’t really have a 7/11 around the corner on Mars, I’m going to starve. Could you imagine though? Damn, I could go for one of their coffee’s right now. It would be great if Commander Dearing was still here. She makes an amazing cup of coffee.”_

 

Owen sighed, looking down at his hands. He got up that morning, ready to start to live again, and everything that came to mind dwelled on the past he had. And maybe the future he could have had. He didn’t want to die on Mars. He wasn’t going to. So, now, he would dwell on the past, particularly, the one person that always came to him in times of trouble and doubt. She was a guiding voice.

 

_“Commander, I know you would have looked for me. I heard you yelling over the comm system with your same demanding voice as always. I know you would have done anything for me. For any of us. That storm was wild and it kicked me around. I’m sorry you didn’t find me, but I’m okay now. I promise. Well, besides the fact that I’ll be dead in a month or two. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. You probably feel guilty, but you don’t need to. It wasn’t your fault what happened. Mars will kill you no matter what.”_

 

Owen let his hand run over his open mouth before he sighed and shook his head. God, he was thankful that no one actually saw this, they would think of him like a fool. He was a fool. If Claire saw this, she would laugh at him, call him an idiot and tell him to get to work.

 

_“I have to stop talking out of my ass. God, you must feel horrible. You always took responsibility for us. You were the best commander any Ares team could have. It was just bad luck. And unfortunately for you, bad luck is my middle name. Could you imagine that being my middle name? Owen Badluck Grady. It’s not comfortable that it works. I...uh….I want you to know that you mean a lot to me. And for you to come and search for me for however long you did...well, the thought is keeping me alive right now.”_

 

Owen’s stomach made a sound that was loud and unapologetic. Owen smiled to himself.

 

_“And that was my stomach saying otherwise. I gotta go sort out my food. Hope the hermes is a lot nicer than Mars. I bet it’s quiet up there.”_

 

He shut off the video camera for a moment, not exactly sure what to do with himself after those brief words. It was quiet up there, but it was quiet on Mars too. He wasn’t going to die on Mars, especially when he had things to say that deserved more than some stupid video message no one would see. He needed to say what he wanted to. And he wasn’t going to wait around to die on Mars. He was going home.

As he wandered around from the computer, he saw all the empty bunks, the scattered and rushed feeling parading the entire hab, but more so in the bunks.

Dearing’s computer was still open, a picture they had all taken together the day they arrived on Mars resting on the screen. They were all so happy and excited, not knowing the grief they would experience with the sudden ‘death’ of a crew member. He needed to get back to them, to tell them it wasn’t their fault that they left him for dead. He looked at their things once more, and if he was going to get home, he needed it to be clean.

He packed away everyone’s things in their own separate boxes, clearly labelled with their last names on each lid. He tucked them away on a shelf and looked at the neat hab. He sighed to himself, his hands resting on his hips. “I’m going to get home.” he said to himself.

It took about two or three days for Owen to walk around without much pain. He found that his staples did pull if he worked himself too hard. He wandered into the kitchen, turned on the coffee machine and started to drink the hot beverage. Nothing compared to a Claire Dearing coffee, but he was going to have to survive with it.

He looked throughout the cabinets of sealed food, checking and counting each item so he knew what supplies he would have to ration and rely on in the coming years. Yeah, years. If he were to survive on Mars, he would have to figure out a way to survive for years so when Ares 4 touches down, he would be ready there and waiting for them for rescue.

There was an unusual moment, however, after Owen had come back from the bathroom, the sound of the airlock packaging of his...waste. He went to the kitchen and dug into a box that read:  _do not open until thanksgiving!_

Inside was the single greatest thing he had ever seen in his entire life. Potatoes. 

 

_LOG 3. SOL 22:_

_“Guess who just found out how to live on Mars. That’s right, I’m gonna make Mars fear me. It tried to kill the almighty Owen Grady, but screw this damn planet, I’m gonna make it my bitch. Okay, I should probably explain why I’m finally getting excited. They sent us here to do a mission for thirty-one sols, for redundancies they sent us here with sixty-eight sols worth of food. And that was meant for six people. With just me, that’s going to last me three hundred sols, which I think I can stretch to four hundred if I ration._

_So, I gotta figure out a way to grow three years worth of food here, on a planet that is known for...well...not growing shit. But, lucky for all you viewers out there, the tale doesn’t end here. I am your local Mars botanist. I’m going to grow stuff on Mars. I will probably have to do that….by farming in my own shit. Yeah, wish me luck.”_

 

Owen changed into another EVA suit that wasn’t damaged. He went outside, his uncontrollable joy was unlimited and he needed to get this done now before he started to doubt himself. He went to the organic waste box on the side of the lab. He opened it up, and inside, were silver packets labelled with each crew member’s name. Why they had to label everyone’s shit, Owen didn’t know, but at least he could blame someone for the horrible smell when it came around to it.

He flipped over the solar panels that had been knocked around by the sandstorm and cleaned them. It took some time, but it would be worth it in the long run. He would have more solar power and could use it to his advantage if he needed to travel for long distances.

He then cleaned out most of the lab. That took the longest time. It was the travelling between the hab and the surface that took the most time. Once Owen had packed everything onto a silver metal cart, he loaded it in the airlock, which took far longer than one might think. He would have to travel back and forth to unload all the thing he didn’t need. Owen suddenly groaned as set a cart in place outside.

_LOG 4. SOL 22._

_“Staple came out.”_

 

Owen raised his blooded hand from his side to the camera inside the hab and shrugged.

It took Owen a full two days to get his indoor environment ready. It was duct taped together really, but it was going to be the best thing to happen to him in a long time. He had plastic sheeting placed all over the ground and extended it up onto the ceiling of the hab. It kept everything in place and made a good solid area for plants to eventually grow in.

Owen then had to cart sand from outside indoors so it would cover the floor in a thick layer of sand. By Sol 31, he was creating the fertilizer, which was the most disgusting process he had ever gone through. He couldn’t believe the smell he had to deal with. Anyway, once it was done, he started to plant the potatoes. they were cut in half and planted on top of each bit of fertilizer he had. Owen ended up making up a dozen or so rows, with at least ten potato halves in each.

Owen smiled as he looked out on it all. He would have to work on getting more water and how they can feed the crops, but he was going to work on it, however long it took. He was going to survive, even if it killed him.

 

*~*~*

 

Owen sat in front of the camera, his hair slightly scorched and his face placed in a scowl, one he made for himself.

 

_LOG 12. SOL 50 ._

 

_“So, as you know, I was having trouble with water. I only have so much water here on Mars, and because we haven’t investigated the water on Mars, I can’t exactly use it to my benefit. But I knew I could make water. You get a lot of hydrogen and oxygen and add fire. So, I set up a very sciencey station where I could do that inside my potato enclosure. Just to contain it all in one space. I got the hydrogen that was left over from the launch, all measured and contained in cylinders, all I had to do was take the rover out and get them. Thank god for that._

_A problem I found was, NASA really doesn’t like fire. It got rid of anything flammable and made making a fire one of the hardest things ever. So, thank you Ferraro who donated his wooden cross. Yeah, I’m sorry about that Ferraro, but you shouldn’t have left me on Mars with all your stuff. I set the fire and forgot something because I’m an idiot. I calculated the oxygen and hydrogen, but I forgot to account for the air I was breathing out. I set myself on fire and fucked up pretty bad. I currently hear a loud ringing in my ears and I am waiting for it to stop so I can make this **fucking**  water. Fuck, I hate Mars.”_

 

*****

 

_“Owen Grady was a fine man, and an amazing astronaut. He strived for the future exploration of Mars, and died serving the world. He will never be forgotten and will forever be in our thoughts. Our thought and prayers are with the Grady family at this time of mourning.”_

Vivian Krill sighed as the rerun of the Owen Grady memorial service was being played in the employee lounge. It had not stopped since the memorial had occurred. It reminded everyone that he was gone. Vic Hoskins, the director of NASA, gave the speech with a strong voice, only wavering when he mentioned Owen’s name. It almost seemed to wound him.

Vivian was always stuck with the worst shifts. She was awake at 1:30am, the large screens in the mission control room of NASA staring back at her as she sat down at her desk. She had made herself her third cup of coffee for the evening when she was set to look at a particular area on Mars. The hab.

Vivian was the satellite communications expert in the NASA control room, so she was set to look at images of Mars that the satellites eventually pick up. She didn’t really want to look at the progress of the hab for many reasons, the main one being, she didn’t want to see Owen Grady’s dead body lying in the sand. The memorial service was hard enough to get through. Though Vivian had only met Owen the once, he was particularly nice to her. He asked her what her name was, spent a few moments with her before he was ushered away and said she was doing a great job. He was a nice guy that didn’t deserve to die on Mars.

Everyone on Earth was grieving for Owen. It was impossible not to. No one wanted to see anyone get hurt on Mars, but there were always risks with space travel. Vivian sighed at the thought of the Ares 3 crew, knowing Owen was dead and how hard they had tried to help. She had to investigate this part of Mars, as it was routine. She took a deep breath and looked at the previous image of the hab they had gotten. It was the day of the storm before it had hit. Sol 18. It was now Sol 54 on Mars, and that was the day Vivian had to check everything.

When she changed the images, her brow narrowed. It wasn’t possible. She scrambled for her phone, immediately ringing up security and asking for Simon Masrani’s emergency number. It took a lot of convincing, and by 2am, he was down there, looking at the same images as she was. He was the director of Mars Missions, so he had to have some idea of what they were looking at. “It can’t be.” he muttered to himself. He raised his hand to mouth, rubbing at his jaw in contemplation.

By 2:30am, Vic Hoskins and Zara Young were standing behind Vivian. Zara was the director of media relations, and she stared at the screen, her arms folded. “Are you sure?” Vic asked, and Vivian looked up at Simon. He nodded.

“One hundred percent.” he said.

“You’ve got to be shitting me.” Zara said next, her British accent showing her true origins, but her renowned foul language was shining through.

“Prove it to me.” Vic demanded and Simon nudged Vivian’s shoulder. She first showed Sol 18. It was mostly covered in dust, the solar panels dirty and the rover on the left side of the hab. She then switched it Sol 54.

“For a start, the solar panels have been cleaned.” Simon said confidently. Vic laughed in response.

“Wind could have done it.” he shrugged before Simon made Vivian switch the images again, leaving them on the screen for a moment.

“Now, look at the roover.” Simon said next. Vivian switched it to show Sol 54 once again. The rover was once on the left side of the hab, was now moved to sit closer to the solar panels on the right of the hab. “It’s been moved. According to Commander Dearing’s logs, she took it out on Sol 17 and set it to charge on the left side of the hab.” Simon explained.

“She could’ve forgotten to log the move.” Vic resigned once more.

“Not likely. Commander Dearing is the one with the most thorough and accurate logs. She wouldn’t have forgotten.” Vivian had read over Commander Dearing’s comprehensive reports of everyday and they were long and gave far too much detail, but it was always accurate. You could count on that.  

“Let’s just ask Dearing if someone forgot to log a move.” Zara began to ask, her arms still folded in front of her chest.

“We can’t do that.” Vic interrupted her.

Zara scoffed. “Why not?”

“If Grady is still alive, we don’t want the Ares 3 crew to know.” Vic shook his head before his hand rubbed at the back of his neck.

“What?” Zara exclaimed. She was shocked to say the least.

“They are on a ten month mission. Space travel is dangerous, so any distraction will interfere.” Vic started to explain, his fingers rubbing at the ridge of his nose. He was tired and this was not the news he wanted to hear at 2:30 in the morning.

“They already think he’s dead.” Zara scoffed once more. She was finding this whole situation ridiculous and Vivian thought she would go on a rant if she was given the chance.

“And it will crush them if they know he’s still alive.” Simon sighed. He didn’t seem like he wanted to agree with Vic, but he did.

“Well, what the fuck are we going to say? ‘Hey, remember that astronaut that died on Mars and had a super emotional funeral for. Yeah, he’s alive, and we left him there. Whoops, our bad. Sorry, NASA.’ I don’t think so.” The rant was given and it had many point behind it. Vivian was stuck in the middle of it all. She had no rank to give her opinion and she couldn’t give any professional advice because it wasn’t her field to make those kind of decisions.

“How are we going to handle the media?” Vic shook his head, before he folded his arms. Zara threw her hands up before she rubbed at her forehead.

“Legally, we have twenty-four hours to release these pictures.” she explained.

“We have to make a statement so no one works it out on their own.” Vice readily made decisions, Zara nodding her head in agreement. “But, if my math is right, he’s going to starve to death before a manned mission can rescue him.” The room went still with his words. Simon gave a long sigh.

“Can you imagine what he’s going through up there? How is he feeling? Being all alone?” he asked, looking at the Sol 54 image on the large screen. So many thoughts roamed around the room that were never said.

 

*****

 

_LOG 17. SOL 55._

_“Commander Dearing. Why the fuck do you have so much disco music? Like what was the point of bringing it? I think I might kill myself if I have to listen to any more of it. Jesus Christ.”_


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cor here! All updates will be coming through me, but let it be known that Kayla writes all the even chapters. So all praise, goes to her this chapter.

_ “Owen Grady was not only a fantastic member of the team, but he was someone that I was lucky enough to call my friend. He will be dearly missed by everyone in the Ares 3 team, myself included-” _

 

Claire slammed her laptop shut and tossed it aside, she didn’t know why she kept reading her eulogy for Owen over and over again. It was the only connection she had left to him out here, everything else was gone and thinking about it only made matters worse. She was supposed to focus on getting the team home in one piece, not spending her free time in her bunk re-reading Owen’s eulogy for the hundredth time. It certainly wasn’t doing any good for her or the rest of the crew. 

 

“Claire?” Karen called out quietly while knocking on the door. 

 

“Come in.” Claire answered meekly, hiding in her bunks was about the only time she could let Owen’s loss truly sink in. “Everything alright out there?” 

 

“Yeah, it’s fine. I just want to let you know we’ll be getting our daily dump in about ten minutes. Zach and Gray mentioned something about sending you an email today, they miss you a lot.” Karen smiled. 

 

“I miss them too.” Claire sighed. “I’ll be out there in a little bit, I just wanted to relax.” 

 

“Okay.” Karen shrugged, Claire knew Karen wouldn’t truly buy her lie, but she knew to leave it alone until Claire would go to her. “If you get any trouble with something in the dump, let me know.” 

 

Once Karen left the room, Claire grabbed her laptop again, closing out Owen speech that she had typed up and going through the pictures she had. Most of them were pictures she wanted to bring along with her, copies of whatever she had on her laptop back on Mars; there were some of Zach & Gray, a few older pictures of herself and Karen with their parents when they were kids. The rest of the pictures were recent, pictures she had taken with Karen and the rest of the crew while aboard the Hermes. She couldn’t help herself from seeking out every picture that had Owen present in it, surprisingly now the one where she looked most annoyed had become her favorite. 

 

It was taken during their first week in space on the way out to Mars, something that felt like the distant past now, and it was just her and Owen. She remembered the day pretty well, Owen had been shadowing her practically, trying to find out why of all things she had picked geology as her major. Claire had been the first one on the ship that has been assigned any experiments, Owen took his lack of experiments as an excuse to follow her around when he had the chance. Eventually he had gotten ahold of her laptop and took ridicules pictures of himself and kept pestering Claire until he got a few funny faces out of her too. In the end he had brightened her day a bit, and their friendship had only grown slowly from there. As Claire could feel the tears in her eyes building up and threatening to fall, Claire exited out of the pictures and decided to find something to read to occupy herself until the dump came through. 

 

***

 

_ Hey Aunt Claire! _

 

_ How’s space? Mom keeps saying that it’s alright, have you seen anything cool out there? Things are okay here on boring old planet Earth; I just started working on my science project! I can’t wait to show it to you once you get back home. Zach says that it’s lame that I started working on it so early but once he sees how cool it is, I think he’ll even change his mind on it too. I know Mom said to try and cheer you up but I wanted to let you know that your speech for Owen was really good, I think he would have liked it if he could have heard it.  _

 

_ Can’t wait for you guys to get home, love you Aunt Claire!  _

 

_ -Gray _

 

***

 

_ Hey Aunt Claire,  _

 

_ I’m sorry about what happened, Gray and I got to meet Owen a couple of days before you guys launched - he seemed like a really cool guy. From what my Mom said about the storm, you guys did all you could to find him, especially you; I’m glad you guys got out of there alive though. Earth is alright, it’s Earth I guess. It should be snowing soon, at least you guys don’t have to deal with that, by the time you get back home it’ll all be long melted. Can I ask you a question though, what would you get for a girl for Christmas? It’s just a question, don’t freak out like Mom did.  _

 

_ Can’t wait to see you again, _

 

_ -Zach  _

 

***

 

Claire missed Zach and Gray so much, she could only imagine just how much her sister had missed them, probably more than she had let on. She missed Gray’s endless questions about everything related to space - the astronaut program, what all the scientists did in the lab, how the rockets were made - he always had a question about everything. Zach was always the quieter one of the two, but Claire could see the same spark of curiosity in him when it came to everything related to the Mars mission. Karen would always tease Claire that one of these days she’d have her own kids to miss back at home, that she’d be just as bad as she was when it came to leaving the boys. Claire had always laughed it off, she had a history of dating men who either only wanted one thing or quickly became intimidated by her job title, she thought the family life that Karen had was impossible. 

 

Claire knew it was against almost every rule to start having feelings for someone she was on a mission with, she should have known better than anyone else the importance of that rule being the Commander, and she never had a problem with it until Owen Grady got under her skin. After she warmed up to him, he wasn’t so bad, in fact she came to enjoy his company more than anyone else on the mission. Claire knew where to draw the line between work and goofing off, but Owen seemed to make it easier for her to relax a bit, to enjoy that they were actually out in space and heading to Mars, a sight few people ever truly get to see. She closed her laptop and knew there was only one person on the Hermes who she could talk to about their lost botanist. 

 

***

 

There weren’t many places for someone to go on the Hermes, at least in their off time. There was either their bunks, the gym, or the rec room where most everyone spent a good part of the day between experiments and their other jobs. After checking both her bunk and the rec room, Claire easily found her sister in the gym, running on the treadmill and watching something she had brought with her on one of the tablets mounted to the machine. As soon as Karen spotted Claire out of the corner of her eye, she paused what she was watching and turned the treadmill off before taking out her earbuds. For once she loved her sister's ability to be able to tell when something was wrong before she even said a word. 

 

    Karen closed the distance between them quickly and wrapped her arms around her, as soon as Claire felt safe, she hugged her sister back and buried her face into the crook of her neck, finally letting some tears shed over Owen. “It’s okay,” Karen tried to console her while rubbing Claire’s back. “it’s okay, Claire.” 

 

“It’s not okay.” Claire sobbed. “Owen’s gone and it’s my fault, I should have looked for him more, I should have done something!” 

 

“It’s  _ not _ your fault Claire.” Karen reassured her. “You searched for him all you could, if you had stayed any longer you would have been stuck there too. I wasn’t about to let my baby sister get trapped on Mars.” 

 

“I shouldn’t have left him behind, it’s my job, I’m supposed to bring everybody back.” Claire retorted, she could feel the anger at herself coming up to the surface again. “I let him down, now his body is just sitting there on Mars and there’s nothing I can do.” 

 

“That’s right, there’s nothing you can do.” Karen stated as she pulled away from Claire to face her now and wipe away her tears a bit. “You couldn’t have done anything even when we were still there. It’s space Claire, from the minute we all signed up for this mission we knew that something could go wrong, we can’t control what happens out here. What happens, happens, we just have to find a way to deal with it and survive it.” 

 

It took a minute for Claire to let it all sink in, she knew Karen was right, space was unpredictable and what happened back on Mars wasn’t something they could control. “I could have gotten us out earlier.” Claire’s voice was barely a whisper. 

 

“You did all you could have done, don’t go thinking about what we could have done or should have done. Owen wouldn’t want anyone blaming themselves for what happened.” Karen tried to calm her down now. “He wasn’t that kind of guy, you of all the people out here should know that. I know you cared about him a lot.” 

 

“And now he’s dead.” Claire stated. 

 

“...If he were here right now, what would he do?” Karen asked. 

 

“Probably tell a stupid joke.” Claire couldn’t help but break a small smile thinking about it. “Something to make me laugh like he always did. He wouldn’t want anyone to be sad.” 

 

“Then keep that in mind, he wouldn’t want you to feel so guilty over something that couldn’t be changed.” Karen said. “Okay?” 

  
“Okay.” Claire nodded and started trying to pull herself together again. “I-I should get back out there, my hour’s almost up for the day.” 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're actually awful and there hasn't been anymore written, we just have this chapter. so yeah. just an update before it goes unfinished again.

Owen knew he was going to be stranded on Mars for a long time, but he did have to think long-term. The most important thing for him was getting off the planet, and the Ares 4 crew would be waiting as a different landing spot. He got in the routine of doing routes to the crater site. A few extra miles each time, but it was becoming more evident that without sufficient power, he was going to freeze at night inside the damn rover. 

 

LOG 26. SOL 77.

 

_ “You see, the rover itself charges from the hab. The hab collects solar energy every day through the sun and it has like twenty giant solar panels doing that. The rover collects like two hours of energy, tops. If I use the heater, my energy goes to zero, quick. So. I have done something stupid. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of you.”  _

 

He smiled. God, he wished someone would laugh at one of his jokes sometime soon. It’s getting boring hearing no one else but himself. He never thought he’d hate the sound of his own voice. 

 

_ “When we landed, we buried the radioactive isotope that helped the ship run. There are two things that are terrible insane about this idea. One, it is radioactive, and two, if I break it, I die.  But it will keep me warm, so screw it.” _

 

Travelling from then on out was easier. He strapped one of the many solar panels to the rover, so he would be able to take longer trips and be able to travel further for when he would eventually have to travel. But there was still something bothering him. He needed NASA to know he was still alive. He was going to die there if they didn’t. 

When he was going to bed on Sol 78, there were things playing in his head, that he didn’t have someone he could love, that his family thought he was dead. That his crew thought he was dead. He was stuck, alone and reliant on the planet around him not to kill him at every turn. It was a place where humans weren’t meant to live and he was praying that it kept him alive. God, he was fucked. 

 

*~*~*

 

S _ leep quickly embraced him, taking him in his cosy bed. The wind outside was interrupting his sleep however. He groaned, tossing in his bed to lie on his side. He felt the soft breath of someone by his side and he opened his eyes. It was Claire. _

_ “Claire?” he asked in a harsh voice, sitting up in his cot. She sat up right beside him. “You’re here?” he asked in shock before he let his hands find her face. Why did she still look so perfect? It should have been impossible to look so beautiful when that someone was an astronaut. He sighed Claire’s hand touched the side of his neck. _

_ “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.” she said softly before she moved herself up. Her knee moved over his thighs and she was sitting on his lap, her hands tugging on his shoulders. Claire leant in, her lips skimming his, Owen losing his breath quickly at her delicate touch and kiss.  _

_ “What are you doing?” he asked, Claire’s hips slowly grinding against him. Owen groaned, throwing his head back into his pillow before Claire raked her nails down his chest.  _

_ “Isn’t this what you want?” she asked him simply and he sat up once more. “I thought we both…” she let her words fade, but her hips didn’t stop rubbing against him, in a painful pleasure he didn’t know whether to indulge in.  _

_ “I didn’t think you liked me…” Owen muttered as Claire leaned into his lips. Her lips touched his blissfully and his arms curled around her waist.  _

_ “Of course I do.” she breathed before her hands reached for the bottom of her shirt. “I would do this if I didn’t like you.” she smirked, lifting it above her head. _

 

*~*~*

 

Owen woke up from his bed, his head whirling and a sudden aching in his chest when he thought on his dream and of Claire. He had to stay awake now, in fear he would stumble back into that dream. He shouldn’t be allowed to dream. Not when he was lonely and, frankly, when he was lonely  _ and _ horny.

He went around the Hab, dancing to the horrible music. He started making dance routines to every song, repeating them and also wishing he could just walk out of the hab with no EVA suit on so he didn’t have to listen to another  _ fucking _ word from those damn songs.

He then organised the food stocks three times, and tipping it all out to start again. It seemed like the easiest thing to do. He eventually was too exhausted to let his mean and invading thought creep back into his mind. He slept peacefully without any more invasive dreams. When he woke, there were a million things playing in his mind. 

 

LOG 28. SOL 79.

 

_ “You know, I was just thinking about Mars. Mars sucks in general. No breathable air. The soil here sucks ass and no reliable water. I thought it was cool here at first, you know, being the only person on a planet, but I’m lonely, and human-needs are frankly the worst without a partner.”  _

 

Owen’s cheeks started to burn when someone came to mind. He swallowed hard before he scratched the back of his neck. He shouldn’t have thought of that. But then again, it had been playing on his mind for a few too many hours and would play on his mind until he died on that planet. 

 

_ “Remind me to keep my mouth shut. Right, back on track. So, Mars. Shit-ass planet. The only thing good about this planet is when man-kind came and visited. I loved being apart of Ares, and really, none of this was possible without -”  _

 

Owen stopped as he clapped his hands together. He couldn’t believe he was so stupid and didn’t think of it earlier. 

 

_ “God, I hope NASA is watching Mars right now.”  _

 

He laughed as he made sure the cameras stayed on. They stayed on for a long time, even when he slept sometimes, as it was easier than turning it on and off. He rummaged through some of Claire’s belongings. He knew she would have a map in there somewhere. It wasn’t until he was going through it all that he noticed some photos. 

Claire had kept a wide range of photos of her family and friends. There was one photo that he found, he had almost forgotten they had taken together. Owen had his lips pressed to Claire’s cheek as she rolled her eyes. Claire often said that she hated the photo, but as he turned it over, he noticed Claire beautiful curling handwriting.  _ ‘My dork of a botanist _ ’ it said. Owen smiled as he stared at the writing. 

He pushed the photo into his pocket before he ruffled through Claire’s things. He found the map he was looking for, and sat on the ground as he worked out where he was. He made a small dot to where he was and soon found what he was looking for. He made another dot before making a line between the two. It would be nearly a two hour drive there and a two hour drive back. Which meant he would have to get the equipment, wait and then get back to the hab. It would take him about six hours in all. NASA should be watching. They had to be. 

That’s what he hoped anyway.

Owen woke up the next morning, putting on his EVA suit and making his way to the site as quickly as he could. He checked his route for the day before he set out to the rover.

The trips in the rover took more time than Owen liked, so he either read books or he slept. It wasn’t until he finally reached the site that adrenaline pumped through his veins. He couldn’t believe he found it. He might actually get to talk to NASA. 

HALLE- _ FUCKING _ -LUJAH! 

 

*****

 

Simon and Vivian watched the screen, noticing that Owen was taking another route than usual. “Where is this bloody bastard going?” Simon complained and Vivian gave a vague shrug. Simon started to shake his head before Vivian zoomed out to a wider view. Simon’s brow furrowed before he got up abruptly, wandering to the mess-hall. 

He grabbed a map of the hab and its surrounding locations. Simon asked Vivian where Owen was at that time, before he drew a straight line to a select locations. He put his hands on his hips and nodded to himself. 

“I know where he’s going.” he muttered, Vivian only looking at him with confused eyes. Simon pulled out his phone and started to call some people. “I need to get to JPL immediately.” he said to Vivian and started to plan his trip. 

Pathfinder.

 

*****

 

“Pathfinder.” Owen whispered to himself. He loaded up pathfinder and eventually went on his way after waiting for the solar panel to recharge. He hadn’t been this excited since they first got launched to the hermes. Pathfinder was a 1997 project that launched to Mars. It recorded and captured images of Mars for scientists to analyse. Nearly a month into the project, pathfinder stopped communicating with NASA. It was suspected that dust storms covered the equipment, and they were right. 

Owen managed to dig it up and put it on the rover, transporting it back to the Hab to recharge and hopefully start to communicate with NASA. He plugged it in and sat by the machine, waiting for any sort of movement, or sign that they were watching him. 

It seemed hopeless. He sat there for an hour with no sign. He didn’t do a damn thing, other than watch the stupid machine not do a thing. Then, it started to power-up, the lights flickering on and whirling of its operations playing. Owen smiled and he was shocked to see what happened next. 

Pathfinder started moving and Owen’s heart clenched. He saw the camera spinning and he had a sudden idea. He raced inside, grabbing a pen and a few signs before he went back out. He placed the three signs a distance apart and hope the camera would pick up on the images and would work out what to do when they saw it.

‘Are you receiving me,’ and signs either side that read ‘yes’ and ‘no’ 

Twenty minutes... 

Nothing... 

Then...

The camera pointed to yes. Owen almost fainted. 

The next few hours, Owen spent wide awake, listening and communicating with NASA through a complex system of letters and numbers. It was using an ASCII system to communication, which would be too hard to explain, but it was using symbols to represent letters and Owen would have to decode them. It took a lot of time, but it was worth it. 

NASA eventually sent him a few lines of code to hack the rover. When he finally decoded them all, he sat in the rover, typed in the 

_ “This is Owen Grady.”  _ Owen finished typing, waiting a short while for a response. He thought he must have coded it wrong until two sentence appeared on the screen, typing out in a few seconds. 

_ “This is JPL. We are reading you.”  _

It was two sentences. And those few words had Owen crying loudly to himself in the rover. He didn’t even care. He broke down crying as more lines of text came through, explaining how long they had been watching him, noticed that he was travelling away from his normal route and figured out where he was going. 

Owen cheered loudly before he took his hands to the keyboard once more. 

_ “What did the crew say when they found out I was alive?”  _ He waited for twenty full minutes, but there was still no reply.  _ “Are you reading me?” _ he typed once more. The reply was what got his rage in knots. 

_ “We haven’t told them yet. We wanted to keep them focused on their mission.”  _

_ “What the fuck? Are you fucking kidding me? This has to be some fucking joke.”  _

_ “Owen! The whole world is reading what you’re saying right now!”  _

_ “Really?”  _ he typed before his childish nature crept up on him.  _ “I wonder how the world would feel if I said fuck everything and I am going to have so much sex when I get back to earth! Just you watch me!” _ he finished typing and shrugged, relaxing back into his chair. 

He fucked up a little there. 


End file.
